What A Wonderful World
by happymealswithlegs
Summary: I am terrible at summaries. In a nutshell, the adventures of the students during the proverbial "eighth" year at Hogwarts. This is my first story so please read and review! Pairings: Draco/Angelina, Ron/Hermione, Harry/Blaise, Ginny/OFC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Reunion at the Burrow

_Dear Students,_

_In light of recent events, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has received numerous questions from concerned parents regarding the status of their children's education. We are pleased to announce that school will resume on August the 29__th__, 1998. Taking the recent circumstances into account the Board of Directors has come to the conclusion that those seventh year students whose classes were interrupted during the course of the Second Wizarding War will be welcomed back to complete an additional year of training before undergoing their N.E.W.T. examinations. Naturally, for a variety of reasons, students may choose not to continue their schooling, however, one must be advised that no exceptions will be made regarding the entrance criteria required for various positions in the workforce. All returning students are required to present themselves promptly at Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station at approximately 9 AM_ _Sunday August the 29__th__ . _

_Sincerely yours, _

_Headmistress Minerva McGonagall_

"Blimey, that's early," muttered Ron Weasely as he looked up from his letter to stare rather dejectedly at the bowl of lumpy porridge which his father had managed to conjure earlier that morning.

"Honestly Ron, its not like getting out of bed before noon is going to inflict permanent damage, and the ministry isn't loosening the entrance requirements to become an auror," stated Hermione Granger as she tucked a wayward curl of brown hair behind her ear while skimming the front page of _Magic Stars_, pausing to inspect a picture of a member of the Weird Sisters who was dancing spasmodically in and out of the photo.

"I know that, its not like you're the only one who can read," snapped the annoyed redhead as he gave a particularly greyish looking chunk of porridge an experimental poke.

Arthur Weasely strode purposefully into the kitchen, casting a despairing look at the mountain of unwashed dishes before nodding in the couple's direction, "Well, I'm off for the day, I'll be back rather late tonight, it's nice to see you again Hermione," he said while grabbing a slightly lopsided hat and mashing it onto his balding head. Hermione opened her mouth to answer but Mr. Weasely had already hurried out the front door and disapparated with a resounding crack.

As soon as Mr. Weasely was safely out the door Ron dumped his congealed breakfast into the dustbin where it landed with an ominous thump. "You don't actually have to eat it, tomorrow just move it around the bowl a bit" he explained to a scandalized looking Hermione while he carefully added his bowl to the precarious pile in the sink and took out a package of Chocolate Frogs. "I dunno what Mum is thinking, leaving Dad in charge of meals, at this rate we'll all be poisoned before the start of term."

"Personally, I think it's brilliant that your Mum's decided to give cooking classes in Hogsmeade," said Hermione resting her head on Ron's shoulder. "People can make lots of money doing that, just look at Julia Childs!"

Following Hermione's long-winded explanation of the muggle celebrity chef, she and Ron continued to squabble over the pros and cons of Molly Weasely's entrance into the work force. Amidst their bickering a bleary, slightly unwashed, Harry Potter descended the stairs, passed by them without comment and poured himself a cup of strong coffee, deftly adding a tablespoon of Mrs. Weasely 's headache potion before retreating to the living room. From his position on the sofa Harry listened to their argument with mild interest and gingerly took a sip of the soothing liquid. He found it rather fascinating that his friends appeared so unaffected by the war; Hermione and Ron were quite content to discuss Mrs. Weasely's employment situation whereas Harry found it difficult to interact with anyone at all. In the immediate aftermath of Lord Voldemort's defeat he had happily celebrated with the rest of the wizarding world. Nevertheless, two months later, Harry was forced to admit that he was spending far too much time with his face above the distasteful, violet hued, toilet of the Hogshead, a local bar, regurgitating a rather revolting mixture of butterbeer and firewhiskey.

Surreptitiously glancing into the living room at Harry who, with his knees drawn up to his chest looked, on the whole, rather pathetic, Hermione gave Ron a questioning look, "You said he's been like this all summer?" she whispered.

"Pretty much," the redhead muttered with shrug, wrapping his arm around Hermione. "Look, it's not that I don't care, it's just that we've tried everything, I've tried, Ginny's tried, Mum's tried, but it hasn't done any good, maybe he'll come out of it when Hogwarts reopens."

"If he even realizes school starting again," said the young witch with a worried look. Peering into her envelop a second time Hermione removed the standard list of school supplies and regarded it closely, "Well, we have to go to Diagon Alley this weekend to get textbooks, and I need a new set of potion supplies and dress robes," After a slight pause she added with a forced optimism, "Maybe a change of scenery will cheer him up." Ron cast a dubious look into the living room at Harry, who now appeared to be staring into the space with a slightly nauseated expression on his face, and didn't even bother to answer.

The next four days at the burrow continued in the same vain with Ron and Hermione occupying themselves quietly, Mr. Weasely and Mrs. Weasely spending the majority of their time at work, and an ever increasing pile of sullied crockery and lack of adequate food. Ginny, Ron's younger sister, was often absent as she had found herself a summer job in Hogsmeade and regularly opted to spend the night at her brother, George's, apartment above Weaselys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry, for his part, had continued his routine of waking up in the early afternoon and sitting, in a rather trance like state, in the living room until Mr. And Mrs. Weasely would return from work, at which point, in order to avoid their concerned faces, he would quickly disapparate to the Hogshead. Often he would not reappear until the following morning via Floo at the instance of the friendly but firm barman who declared that he was in a far too inebriated stated to attempt apparation.

On a bright and cool Saturday morning Hermione, Ron, and Ginny sat around the breakfast table arguing in hushed tones. After several minutes a clearly exasperated Ginny suggested that they draw straws, the loser, Hermione, was thus sent upstairs to wake Harry with coffee and a strong hangover potion. Half an hour later they apparated into Diagon Alley and the trio, with a pale and sickly Harry Potter trailing behind, winded their way up the familiar cobblestone street.

"Demelza just reminded me of something," said Ginny with a slight frown after she emerging from an energetic hug with her friend and fellow teammate. "Does anyone have any idea why we have to be at the station so bleeding early, normally we get on the train well after noon, not at nine o'clock in the morning?" Glancing behind her Ginny noticed that Harry appeared to have made a dash for a grubby looking bar and Ron, after of a moment of deliberation, gave Ginny and Hermione bewildered wave and disappeared into the pub in search of his wayward friend.

"I suppose they must be making some sort of announcement to do with the war, but it's true that we'll probably arrive there just after lunch, which certainly seems to leave a lot of time for speeches," remarked Hermione looking from Ginny to the entrance of the Three Broomsticks.

"Oh well, we'll figure it out when we get there, off to Madame Malkin's for dress robes?" asked Ginny nonplussed.

"Right, I nearly forgot," said Hermione as she observed her friend out the corner of her eye. Hermione had to conclude that although the war had changed each one of them Ginny's transformation was the most remarkable. Striding down Diagon Alley with her robe hanging open to reveal dark, form fitting, jeans and a soft, black, cashmere sweater, her sparkling brown eyes rimmed in a light brown pencil, and a mass of glistening red hair piled on top of her head, the occasional curling tendril escaping, Ginny Weasely was the picture of confidence. As the pair entered Madame Malkin's and began flipping throw the rows of dress robes Hermione was unable to suppress her curiosity, "Ginny, I was wondering. . . well I didn't really think it was the right kind of thing to ask in a letter, or in front of Ron. . . but what exactly happened between you and Harry?" she asked tentatively.

Ginny sighed but looked unsurprised by the question. "It's not that I don't care about Harry, I do, it's just that I spent what, five years of my existence pinning over him, just to finally get him and to have him disappear less than a month later. Last year, when he left, everything was so uncertain, we didn't even know if we were going to come out of the war alive. Then, when it finally ended, I had already changed too much . . ." stated Ginny holding out a light green robe for inspection. "I guess loving Harry wasn't really what I thought it would be, maybe it's selfish but I want to have fun, life's too short to be in love with someone as screwed up as Harry Potter." As if designed to illustrate her point at that moment the doors to Madam Malkin's swung open to reveal weary looking Ron and a stumbling Harry who took one look at a mannequin in the entrance of the store sporting an extraordinarily flamboyant set of dress robes in swirling pink and orange and promptly threw up all over his shoes.

Comparatively speaking the remainder of their excursion to Diagon Alley went surprisingly well. Ron, swearing quite colourfully following Harry's memorable entrance quickly ushered his friend towards the back of the store, asking the startled shopkeeper for directions to the toilet. Meanwhile, Ginny performed a variety of scourifying charms on the once pristine hardwood flors, cursing quietly to herself every few minutes. Hermione, shocked into silence, continued to gape at the scene in front of her until, out of the corner of her, a witch wearing a particularly garish set of turquoise robes caught her attention. Turning her head to inspect the woman more closely, she let out a piercing shriek. Ginny, still working on the floor, gave a slight jerk and shot her friend a questioning look just as Ron popped his head around the bathroom door. Glancing around the store and seeing nothing out of place a curious expressing crossed Ron's face, as though he was considering sending both Hermione and Harry to St Mungo's ward for the Seriously Disturbed where they could happily share a room.

"Mione...?" He asked tentatively.

"That, that _woman_," she spat out furiously. Taking in Ron and Ginny's twin expressions of utter incomprehension she wisely close to elaborate, "Rita Skeeter," she cried, "of all the people to be standing outside the window it just had to be her. Oh dear, oh lord, what are we going to do? It will be all over the papers, Harry will be so embarrassed..."

"Don't you read the _Daily Prophet _every day Hermione?" Ginny cut in, slightly impatiently.

"Of course I do, everybody does, that's exactly why..." Hermione trailed off her forehead wrinkling slightly in confusion. "Well actually, I guess my parents stopped ordering the wizarding papers during the war, security and all that. I can't believe I never realized, its going to take me weeks to catch up..."

At that moment Harry rounded the corner and looked at Hermione expressionlessly, "Don't worry Hermione, everyone is aware that the Boy Who Lived has become Hogsmeade's resident drunk, Rita Skeeter dedicated a whole two pages to 'the situation' earlier this month."

Harry then strode, slightly lopsidedly, through the front gate of Madam Malkin's and promptly disapparated.

There was a long awkward pause before Ron took in Hermione's hurt expression and helpfully suggested that they all apparate to Hogsmeade for a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. In less than a second they had appeared in the small wizarding village near Hogwarts and wandered, rather speechless, across the street and pushed open the heavy wooden door, and were thankful greeted with delicious smells and a smiling Madam Rosmerta.

"Well, if it is my favourite barmaid," she said ushering them towards a secluded table in the far right hand corner of the room. "Everything is on me this afternoon, what can I get you?"

"Roz, really its not necessary," Ginny protested turning slightly pink at the compliment.

"Honestly, you all look like you've had a rough day," Rosmerta said as she fished beneath the counter and appeared with three mugs of butterbeer. "The first three are on me, after that you're on your own, however. Do try and cheer up," she added sternly giving the three of them a motherly look before sweeping off to serve the other customers.

The three of them sat and sipped until their mugs were nearly half empty before any of them felt like talking. "So Harry's issues are all over the papers?" Hermione asked rather redundantly.

Ron nodded, "I wouldn't take it personally Hermione, he speaks to everyone in exactly that tone, as if he's reading lists of potion ingredients instead of actually holding a conversation," he said reaching over and giving Hermione's knee a slight squeeze of reassurance under the table.

"Well," said Ginny in a rather exasperated tone, "Now that Harry's issues have cut into our shopping time I doubt we will ever have a chance to get everything we need and I completely forgot to buy new dress robes when we were leaving Madam Malkin's"

Ron leaned on his hand and sighed, "I can't imagine why they would ask us to bring dress robes unless it meant were going to have another horrendous ball," he said morosely.

"Oh come on Ron, look on the bright side, at least this time I'm going with you and not Victor so there will be no need for you to storm off in a tiff," Hermione teased. Ron shot her a look before dabbing his finger in his butterbeer foam and flicking it in her general direction surprising both of them when it landed with a splat on her forehead and trickled into her eyebrows. Hermione looked momentarily stunned before bursting into laughter.

"Oh you two are a lot of help," Ginny groused.

"Well even if there is a ball I don't plan on buying new robes, they're far too expensive," said Hermione practically.

"Money apparently isn't an issue when one's a barmaid," Ron explained. "She almost makes more than dad, it's absolutely ridiculous." Hermione took in Ginny's ample curves, full lips, and spiralling curls, and simultaneously decided that Ginny's success was, in fact perfectly logical, and that she would certainly not be the one to inform Ron of his sister's considerable assets.

After their break at the Three Broomsticks, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, returned to Diagon Alley to continue gathering supplies for the following school year. Ginny first stopped at the apothecary to restock her potions supplies and then they all entered Florish and Botts in search of textbooks. Ron and Hermione's list included a standard set of potions, transfigurations, and charms books at an ever more advanced level. These basics were then supplemented by two slightly more daunting texts, The Philosophy of Magic: The Greeks to Postmodernism by Amelia Bones (compiled post-mortem), and The Theoretical and Technical Application of Healing by Erasus Buldiplanc. Ginny purchased the standard set of seventh year texts and, without a moments hesitation, a set of eighth year texts to take back to Harry; her generosity was later explained when she revealed that she knew exactly where he kept his bag of gallons. After a brief stop an the pet store for food for both Crookshanks, Hermione's orange monstrosity, and Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, they made their way back to the Burrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**: **Back To Hogwarts**

"Chip, Chirp, Chip". Hermione rolled over and grabbed her wand, muttering a quick spell that silenced her morning alarm. It was just six thirty and the window of Fred and George's bed room revealed that the garden of the Burrow was still shrouded in mist and the pale, early morning, sunshine. Pulling on a pair of muggle sweatpants and a T-shirt Hermione attempted to quietly open the bedroom door, frowning to herself as it creaked loudly despite her efforts. She then tiptoed down the rickety stairwell and conjured herself a cup of coffee and reached for a chocolate frog. She let out a contented sigh as, for the next hour, she would likely be the only person awake in the Burrow, and she had planned to spend those precious sixty minutes catching up on what she had missed of the wizarding news over the summer. At exactly six forty five, just as she had predicted, the _Daily Prophet _appeared in the middle of the kitchen counter. Hermione reached for it eagerly, flipping through the pages, purposefully avoiding the entertainment section which included Rita Skeeter's update on Harry's latest excursion to Diagon Alley, and soon became utterly engrossed. By seven thirty Hermione heard multiple alarms go off in the bedrooms above her and the subsequent groaning of their occupants. She had nearly finished the paper and was flipping through the sections she had previously ignored when her eyes caught a familiar name at the top of the page and she led out a loud gasp.

"What?" muttered a dishevelled looking Ron as he entered the kitchen, blindly waving his wand in an effort to produce a cup of coffee. Hermione proceeded to read the section out loud.

_**MalfoyFalls to Death**_

_Lucius Malfoy, former death eater and husband of Narcissa Malfoy, and father of nineteen year old Draco Malfoy was pronounced dead yesterday evening following a bizarre sequence of events at Malfoy Manor. The Malfoy Estate had not been occupied since the end of the war as the estate had been under the control of the Ministry of Magic. Lucius Malfoy, who had been acquitted on all charges in relation to the last wizarding war due to his wife's courageous actions during the final battle, was touring Malfoy Manor with the ministry officials before the property was to be returned to him in order to assess damages and the like. According to an anonymous official, Malfoy entered his own bedchambers, opened his desk drawer and removed an item before walking out onto the adjoining balcony and preforming Avada Kedavra on himself and tumbling to the ground three stories below. An anonymous official reported that upon examination of the body a locket containing a picture of his sister in law, the deceased Bellatrix Lestrange, was found clenched in his left hand. _

"Bloody hell, who would kill themselves over that crazy old bat?"asked Ron, "Oh well, at least that's one less Malfoy in the world."

"Ron!" admonished Hermione, "Narcissa Malfoy saved Harry during the last battle."

"Well that didn't stop her husband from screwing her own sister. And anyways, none of this makes Malfoy any less of an arse, speaking of which I wonder if he'll bother to show his face this year" he replied waspishly. He glanced over at Hermione whose forehead was scrunched up in confusion. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just I'm thinking of Slytherin, now that you mention it I really wonder who will come back . . .Crabbe's dead, that tall squinty eyed girl, what was her name. . . Greengrass, was bragging last year about transferring to Durmstrang."

"Bulstrode and Goyle, are dead too," announced a bored sounding Harry from the sofa in the adjoining room. Both Hermione and Ron spun around in surprise,

"Harry, I had no idea you were up already, would you like a chocolate frog?" asked Hermione.

"No thanks," Harry replied staring at his coffee, "I had breakfast at the Hogshead this morning, Aberforth makes a really good sausage and egg patty; anyways apparently Goyle was visiting when the Ministry raided the Bulstrode's house searching for dark artifacts early this month, they accidentally blew up the west wing and it collapsed, Goyle and Millicent both died." Harry looked up to find both Ron and Hermione staring at him in shock, he realized, belatedly, that this was probably the longest sentence he had managed to string together in over three months.

A loud crash interrupted the trio's discussion as Mrs. Weasely burst into the kitchen, stumbled and tried to catch her balance by grabbing onto the sink which, naturally, caused the mountain of dirty dishes to topple over and shatter. Mrs. Weasely looked momentarily shocked and gave Hermione a thankful smile as the witch began waving her wand and muttering "reparo" followed by "scourgify" and then levating the cups back into the cupboard.

"Mum, aren't you meant to have already left for work?" asked Ron in confusion.

"Really dear, I would hardly miss everyone's last first day, I'm going to make pancakes, George and Charlie should be here any minute, and then we're apparating as a family to Platform 9 3/4s, unfortunately Bill couldn't come, Fleur's having some sort of family problem. Even your father managed to get the day off work, speaking of which, Ron, could you go make sure your father and Ginny are ready to leave as soon as we finish breakfast?"

"No need, no need" said Mr. Weasely as he walked into the kitchen followed by Ginny who looked vaguely unconscious and was attempting, in vain, to tame her flyaway hair with one hand while simultaneously buttoning her jumper. With a crack George and Charlie Weasely appeared and immediately began jostling a place around the table.

Before long the Burrow was filled with the smell of sizzling pancakes and bacon, Mr. Weasely was immersed in the Daily Prophet, Ron and Hermione we happily bickering, George and Charlie were engaged in some sort of mock sword fight with two strips of bacon, and Mrs. Weasely was trying to overfeed Harry who was thanking her profusely and shuffling his food around the plate. Taking in the scene Ginny could, for a moment, almost forget the war, save for the framed picture above the table of Fred smiling enthusiastically as he flew back and forth in front of the twin's famed Portable Swap.

Four hours later having arrived at Hogwarts Ginny was in a similarly contemplative mind frame, glancing around the great hall from her usual seat she couldn't help but remember that the last time she had been in this room a battle had been raging around her. She looked at the Professor's table where a tired but proud Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was observing her students; Ginny was pleased to see was the tiny but ever energetic Professor Flitwick seated to her left the other faces, however, were unfamiliar. She was jolted out of her ruminations by Hermione, "Look at Slytherin," the older girl muttered, "There aren't many students left". Ginny glanced over at the Slytherin table and realized that Hermione was right, while there were lots of second, third, and fourth year students seated at the table, there were hardly any older students. At that moment McGonagall rose from her seat and a hush fell over the students, Ron and Neville quickly gave Harry a poke on either side so that he wouldn't sleep through her speech.

"Good afternoon students. To begin I would like to welcome all of you to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As you might have noticed you were asked to arrive at Platform 9 3/4 nearly three hours earlier than normal this morning." Several consenting groans met this statement, "This change was due to several lengthy matters that need to be attended to before the school year can begin. As this may take quite a while the tables will be filled with mild refreshments to hold you over until the feast this evening."

Glancing around the great hall McGonagall continued, "First off I would like to introduce you to the unfamiliar faces seated beside me, to my left is your Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor Andromeda Tonks. She has worked for nearly twenty years for the Ministry of Magic as an auror."

Upon her introduction the small woman rose to her feet and was greeted by a respectful applause. The two pink streaks in either side of her curling white hair and her wide smile bore such a striking resemblance to her daughter, the late Nymphadora Tonks, that many of the students at the Gryffindor table found themselves fighting back tears.

"To the left of Professor Flitwick I would like to introduce you to your Potions Professor, Damocles Belby, friend of the late Professor Slughorn and the inventor of the wolfsbane potion." The slim dark haired man rose to his feet and graced the students with a curt nod in response to their applause before seating himself yet again. Ron nudged Harry and Hermione,

"He looks like he would have gotten on really well with Snape, blimey what is wrong with potions professors?" In response Hermione let out a rather unladylike snort which caused Harry to interrupt his contemplation of the table top and level a glare at them both. "Harry it was just a joke, you know, 'ha ha'" Ron said, however, as he was unable to lift Harry's morose spirits he soon turned his attention back to McGonagall.

"There are several other new professors who were unable to be present today," the Headmistress continued. "These include Professor Pomphrey who will be teaching Magical Healing in addition to her duties in the infirmary, Firenz who will be teaching the Philosophy of Magic, and lastly Professor Weasely who will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures."

At this remark Ron and Ginny had to stifle their laughter, the idea of their shaggy haired and slightly irresponsible older brother being referred to as a professor seemed completely unimaginable. Mrs. Weasley had been completely thrilled with the idea that one of her sons was going to become a teacher, she had also made no secret of the fact that she hoped Charlie might meet a nice young lady now he was out of, "those horrid caves in Romania".

"In addition to staffing changes," McGonagall went on, "There will be some significant changes in the house system at Hogwarts. I do not believe that any of you are aware that the sorting hat was accidentally destroyed during the battle of Hogwarts." Gasps and mutterings could be heard among the students, "After much deliberation and consultation with other professors I have decided that the destruction of the sorting hat was perhaps a sign that it was time for a transformation of the house system in this school. While we all recognize and honour the immense importance and contributions of the founders, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw, it has been decided that the previous house system created discordance and undermined the cohesion of this establishment. This, in addition to the fact that there are currently certain houses lacking considerable numbers of students has led to the decision to model the new Hogwarts house system on one seen in several wizarding schools in the United States. As of today the houses of Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw will cease to exist, in their place are the houses of Nmeead, Sighcreps, Highrad, and Cellany."

Amid the mild roar of, "It's not possible", "thousands of years", "tradition" and, "what on earth will my parents say" McGonagall raised her wand with a flourish and the previous house tapestries vanished. The students watched with wide eyes as four new tapestries appeared; Nmeead was vibrant green and blue picturing two sea nymphs with their delicate tails intertwined, Cellany was silver with two horses breathing orange fire, Highrad sported a white and black owl in flight, and Sighcreps was of two rams one deep purple and the other solid gold locked in battle.

Following this transformation, the Great Hall fell into absolute silence which was broken only by a soft creaking noise. All heads turned as Professor Sprout carefully pushed a wooden cart filled with earth into the centre of the Great Hall.

"Ah Pomona, what excellent timing" McGonagall exclaimed. "Professor Sprout has been indispensable in finding a solution to the current situation, would you care to explain."

"Certainly Minerva", said the short, cheerful looking, woman covered in dirt standing next to the cart. Muttering a spell that allowed her to project her voice across the Great Hall she began, "In this cart I have the seeds of an Adonea plant family". At this statement Neville let out a gasp and shared a knowing glance with Luna Lovegood who was situated across the room at the old Ravenclaw table. "Adoneas are magical plants that are famous not only for arranging themselves into groupings most likely to thrive in particular environments, but also for being able to determine what types of individuals will function best together in a given group".

By the end of this sentence the majority of the students remained equally confused and McGonagall quickly intervened, "Thank you Pamona. In short, each student is to come to the front of the room and select a seed from the bucket and place it into a pot of dirt, a flower will instantly bloom which will determine your affiliation for the time being. This exercise will be repeated at the beginning of each year in order to make any adjustments. Some students may remain in the same house for their entire education at Hogwarts, others may change houses every year. We will begin the sorting with the eighth year students and descend from there ending with the new first years and our one transfer student. Now, without further ado, Hannah Abbot, please come forward."

All eyes remained transfixed on the blonde, slightly overweight, Hufflepuff girl as she carefully removed one of the shiny black beans from the wooden bin and placed it into a small clay pot that Professor Sprout had prepared. At first nothing happened, then those students closest to the front noticed that the earth in the pot began to sparkle and, suddenly brown coloured leaves and a flower bud sprouted from the earth. There was a moments pause where one could see tiny white sparks dancing around the pot before the plant burst into bloom, a spiky, iridescent green flower. "Nmeead," McGonagall proudly declared.

Following Hannah Abbot's sorting the students lost some interest and began chatting amongst themselves. "I can't understand it what are we going to do about Quidditch, there is no way I'm playing on the same team some Hufflepuff, and certainly not with Malfoy" stated Ron.

"Oh honestly Ron, you should have bigger concerns than Quidditch, what if we don't have classes together, you might actually have to start writing your own essays" Hermione replied with a smirk. Ron opened his mouth to retort just as his girlfriend leaned over to give him a peck on the cheek, saying quietly, "There, there, Won Won". Despite the fact that she was equally concerned about the fate of the Quidditch team, Ginny let out a burst of giggles upon hearing the taunt and took great pleasure in the sight of her brother's ears turning red.

"Leona Goss", Professor McGonagall droned on, and finally, "Hermione Granger". Hermione walked up to the wooden cart and picked up the seedthinking quietly to herself that despite McGonagall's efforts, it was going to take more than a pretty plant to make her forget she was a Gryffindor.. Dropping her black seed into the moistened earth Hermione watched as her flower was revealed, a black spiny looking thing that seemed to have an ethereal glitter. "Highrad" McGonagall pronounced.

Nearly four hours later, despite the sandwiches and copious servings of pumpkin juice, the students in the Great Hall were restless and hungry. By the time McGonagall had announced the houses of the first year students and the one new student, Tom Couture, no one was even bothering to clap or raise their heads from the table. Finally, the wooden cart and the hundreds of potted plants were removed from the Great Hall and the feast appeared on the tables. Despite the fact that the friends had now been technically divided into separate houses they remained at their Gryffindor table with nearly everyone deeply involved in conversation about the new arrangements. Hermione was so caught up in the table's various complaints that she almost missed something much more important, Harry was sitting quietly, staring at the Great Hall's magnificent ceiling and despite the ruckus around him beginning to smile.


End file.
